The invention relates to a transport device. In particular, the invention relates to a transport device having a screw conveyor for transporting products hanging on loops or the like, in particular for transporting sausage products. The transport device comprises a first screw conveyor section, a drive means for the first screw conveyor section, where the drive torque is transferred to the screw conveyor section via an outer circumferential area of the first screw conveyor section, and further comprises a first bearing device for the first screw conveyor section.
It is known, in practice, that when producing sausages, for example, the sausage meat is fed by a filling machine to a clipping machine via a filling tube. In the clipping machine, the filling material is filled into a tubular packaging material, which is closed at one end by a first clip, and the tubular packaging material is closed by placing a second clip. If the sausage-shaped product or the sausage product is to be suspended for further processing, a suspension element, which in most cases is a thread loop, is usually inserted into the second clip and fixed to the sausage product by means of said second clip. The sausage products are then transported out of the clipping machine by means of a transport device and are strung on storage rods in order to be further processed, for example smoked.
A transport device of the kind initially specified is known from the laid-open German patent application DE 103 32 329 A1 (US 20050042979). This known transport device for transporting objects suspended on loops has a shaft with a worm disposed on its outer surface. The shaft is supported by three bearing rollers uniformly distributed around the circumference of the shaft, wherein one of said rollers transfers a drive torque to the shaft. In the profile formed by the worm, the products hanging from the loops encircling the shaft are transported along the linear transport path formed by the shaft.
However, objects hanging on loops can be transported by means of the known transport device only linearly and in a horizontal direction. This makes it difficult to connect the known transport device to upstream or downstream machines and devices, or limits such connections, because the respective infeed and discharge devices of such machines must be matched to the height of the transport device.